


Strong, Powerful, Beautiful

by voleuse



Category: Girls Trip (2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 09:43:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13051464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: The long arc toward everything Lisa wants and deserves.





	Strong, Powerful, Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clio_jlh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clio_jlh/gifts).



> Set largely before the events of the movie.

**1995, graduation**  
Dina, of course, had a flask tucked into her bra and, of course, it was Everclear. Ryan was taking a discreet swig when she saw Lisa sliding out of her seat and heading towards the back, quickly followed by...Shane? Wayne? “Is she--” 

“Mm-hmm,” Sasha hummed.

Eight minutes later, Lisa strolled past them, back to the row where folks advancing to nursing school were seated.

Ryan crooked an eyebrow. “She didn’t--”

“Hell right she did,” Dina said, extracting the flask from Ryan’s hand.

Later, they mobbed Lisa while her mother took pictures of the nursing cohort. Lisa waved them off, and Dina draped her arms around her shoulders. “Was that Shane you were--”

“Wayne,” Lisa corrected.

“You didn’t even,” Ryan said, “did you?”

“You were gone, like, eight minutes,” Sasha pointed out.

“You’re right,” Lisa said, leaning closer to aim her smile away from the camera. “I did it twice.” 

Dina threw her arms up, and Lisa’s mom didn’t even blink as she started taking photos again.

 

 **2008, at the nicest restaurant within a twenty-minute drive of Lisa’s place**  
Sasha’s “a day in the life of Oprah’s personal assistant” piece landed on the splash page of Vanity Fair, and she cashed in rainchecks from the past four years to get them all in the same place at the same time. Lisa showed up fifteen minutes late, and her sweater was inside-out, and she hugged them all and asked for, of all things, a _white wine spritzer_.

Ryan read pieces of the article aloud, and Dina demolished herself some shrimp cocktail, and Sasha interjected with details she’d left out because, she said, she wanted to make sure her sources would still talk to her later. Lisa applauded when they reached the end, and that’s when Dina leaned across the table and asked, “Tell me that ain’t applesauce in your hair.”

“Oh.” Lisa twitched as she ran her hands over her hair. “Um. Yes, I.” She grabbed a napkin and fiddled with it for a second. “Okay. Sorry, my shift ran over and then there was this thing with--”

“Nah,” Sasha said, “I am just so damn glad you’re here.” 

And Ryan reached out and clasped hands with the both of them, while Dina raised her chin to call out, “Bring us all your sangria.”

 

 **2011, the Red Lobster down the street from the divorce court**  
“I just,” Lisa said, the gin swirling just _so_ in the glass as she twisted the stem between her fingers. “I want to hate him. But I can’t.”

“I can,” Dina said, snatching the glass from Lisa’s hand. The drink slopped over her wrist, and she licked across the back of her hand before taking a sip proper. “I hate that motherfucker.”

“He’s still--”

“Think his chickenshit, candy-loving, tiny-balled nonsense was worthy of all you got going?” Dina looked pointedly over Lisa’s body, and Lisa crossed her arms. “And you smart as hell, too,” she added.

“Definitely smarter than him,” Ryan chimed in.

Sasha nodded. “How many times would he have straight up gone weeping back to his momma if you hadn’t been there to lift him up?”

Lisa tilted her head. “Yeah, I guess-”

“Guess nothing,” Dina snorted, “The only good and proper things that man gave to you are the two sperms--” She extended her middle fingers, wiggling them over Lisa’s chest before swooping lower.

Lisa squawked. “Dina!”

“The two sperms he managed to pump out,” Dina continued, arching on her bar stool, hips lifting twice, “to give you, those two baby boys you’ll be raising on your own--”

“I’m sure he’ll--”

“Because you know,” Dina pointed at Ryan, who echoed, _you know_ , while Sasha shouted, _amen_ , “you know that weak-ass shell of a man who,” Dina stood, “couldn’t even get it halfway up on a Thanksgiving morning--”

“Dina!” Lisa covered her face with her hands.

“You know he ain’t gonna say a single goddamn word to help those boys come correct.” Dina shifted back onto her stool and reached out, caught Lisa’s hands. “And he don’t need to.” Dina pulled Lisa’s hands and placed them over her own heart. “Because you are strong, Lisa.”

“And powerful,” Ryan said, “and beautiful.”

“And you don’t need a goddamn thing from what’s-his-name ever again,” Dina said. “I mean, get you some child support, sure.”

Lisa nodded, reclaiming her hands to swipe her palm across her eyes. “I love y’all, you know that?”

Sasha waved her hand in the direction of their waiter. “I’mma need a lot more gin if we’re going to keep on with this affirmation train.”

The waiter--Tad? Chad? The waiter appeared. “Ladies?”

“Listen,” Dina said, pointing toward Lisa, “you wanna take my girl out behind the kitchen and give her a little--”

“Oh god,” Lisa interrupted, “please, just another round.”

“Mm-hmm.” Dina winked at the waiter. “You a fine-ass young man, you know that? Strong.” She leaned toward him. “Virile.”

And Lisa laughed, finally, and Ryan apologized profusely to the people at every table around them.

 

 **2019, at the bar with the best selection of rum in Miami**  
Lisa was already at the bar when Dina strolled in, with a pitcher of beer and four tall glasses containing an alarming shade of blue. 

“Girl,” Dina said, sliding onto the bench and knocking her shoulder against Lisa. “Doing it right.”

“Mom said she’d go with the boys to see their dad,” Lisa said. “And I figured--”

“To get yourself as much of this blue shit,” Dina took a sip, “damn, this _excellent_ blue shit, before it’s time to get them tucked in.”

“Actually,” Lisa said, “they’re staying with their dad, and Mom’s visiting with some friends, and I will be doing,” she lifted her glass to the brother behind the bar, “ _that_.”’

Dina took her time perusing the situation before turning her attention back to Lisa. “You already did that, didn’t you?”

“Twice,” Lisa confirmed, and Sasha and Ryan strolled in as Dina whooped, and Lisa shimmied and demanded a round of shots to start the night off right.


End file.
